Cowboys doomsday scenario sounds just crazy enough to come true

Surviving periods of tumultuousness is nothing new for Dallas Cowboys fans. Such is life when Jerry Jones is the team's owner and the decisions that are made -- most recently and notably bringing back Ezekiel Elliott this offseason after much-maligned inactivity -- almost routinely.

But one analyst has floated the possibility of the true Cowboys doomsday scenario that could take place in the 2025 offseason.

CBS Sports analyst and Cover 3 podcast analyst Danny Kanell, while discussing CBS Sports draft analyst Ryan Wilson's early 2025 NFL mock draft, cooked up a truly wild scenario for the draft and the looming offseason in Dallas.

His suggestion: The Cowboys let Dak Prescott walk after the final year of his contract in 2024, then draft Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The kicker, however, is that Shedeur comes with his father, Cowboys legend Deion Sanders, who takes over as head coach for Mike McCarthy.

"You missed a mega opportunity, though," Kanell said. "Because you have a team that drafted a quarterback, where I think their owner would look past a lot of these issues. You had the wrong quarterback going to the Dallas Cowboys, because -- and you could've had a package deal, you could've predicted it all. Deion [Sanders] going back to coach for Jerry [Jones], bringing his son with him."

You can watch the full segment beginning at the 10:35 mark in the video below.

Analyst floats Cowboys drafting Shedeur Sanders, hiring Deion Sanders as head coach

While this may certainly come off as outlandish (because it is), the actualy possibility of this happening isn't all that unrealistic. When you just look at what we know about everyone involved in this situation, everything aligns for something like this to happen for the Cowboys.

Let's start with Dak Prescott who, as mentioned, is entering the final year of his current contract and has been working to try and reach and agreement on an extension already this offseason. Dallas, however, has played hardball and has not been shy about teasing the possibility of moving on from their quarterback in the 2025 offseason, even if that's easier said than done.

Then we have current head coach Mike McCarthy. Many Cowboys fans wanted him fired after another playoff failure this past season, but Jones asked him to return to the building. Having said that, it appears he is very much on the hot seat with his fate potentially tied to Dallas' playoff fate this year.

Both of those things could open the door for drafting a quarterback and searching for a new head coach. That's where Jerry Jones comes fully into focus. This is an owner and general manager who sometimes can't help himself when it comes to making a splash, which is even more true when it comes to people he's loyal to. Deion Sanders is one of those people, and hiring the current Colorado Buffaloes head coach to come back to the Cowboys would be that splash.

As for Shedeur Sanders, while some early mock drafts have him as a Top 5 pick, it's much more likely he's a mid-to-late first-round pick. That would be in range for the Cowboys and, should things completely fall apart with Prescott, it's a viable option.

But having said all of this, it would truly be a disaster for the Cowboys. Even with Prescott not being a Mahomes-level player, he's a lock as a Top 10 quarterback in the current NFL landscape and has led this team to four straight 12-win campaigns. Moving on from him to an unproven rookie for seemingly no or at least minor reasons would be ill-advised.

Beyond that, though, the Cowboys would also be bringing in a head coach with no NFL experience and whose Colorado exploits thus far have not yet yielded quality results outside of improving a 1-11 team to 4-8 last season. This offseason has also been unkind to the Buffs in terms of their public image, specifically for the Sanders family.

Kanell's suggestion is far from a guarantee, but the way things are trending, it's not completely far-fetched to think that it could happen. And that very possibility should scare the pants off of Cowboys fans everywhere.